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| Otso Cycles Waheela C |
Otso Cycles has been making gravel bikes for a few years now and their Waheela S was one that I tried and had a bit of bother with. It wasn't all the bike's fault, more so some of the componentry on the bike. Had I ran it with a carbon fork and a decent ranged drive train that shifted correctly, I may have had fonder memories.
I also swung a leg over their unusual Warakin stainless steel rig, and quite liked that bike, but that one was set up quite differently as well. Still- a fine rig in my mind. Now they have finally come forth with a carbon fiber version of the Waheela dubbed- you guessed it- the Waheela C. This bike has many of the same features as the Waheela S, just rendered in carbon. The way it was set up in the press release I got is how I'd like it best. I think it would be a fine rig for a lot of folks.
One cool thing about the steel bike was that it would fit 29" X 2.1" tires and they actually made that work for the carbon one too. Dang! Now that is something I could get behind. Plus, this bike they show is a really great shade of red. There isn't much to not like here, but the frame price, which is above 2G. Ouch!
But they really did a nice job on the feature set here. Plenty of mounting points, bowed seat stays for compliance. (Hmmm.........ya mean like a Warbird?), and they sleeved the cable runs, (Yay!), so this frame seems pretty well thought out.
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| Foam filled. Really! |
Sometimes I think marketers are a little dense, or careless, or, (hopefully not), intentional with the double entrendre. Anyway, Spank, a company most well known for their MTB stuff, has a gravel drop bar with their "Vibrocore" technology. It's a complex foam injected into the handle bar with the intention that it will cut down on vibrations to the rider.
I had a look at a marketing copy for Sea Otter and they have the fast becoming traditional 12° and 25° degree flare options. But wait a gol durn minute there! Is that a straight 31.8mm bar top on that 25° degree bar? Why yes! I think it is. Could this be the bar that comes closest to a Luxy Bar redux?
Well, maybe it is, and maybe it is not. But one thing is for certain. I'm going to be finding out. This is one of a few things coming in for testing at RidingGravel.com from Grannygear's Sea Otter visit. Look for more on this bar- hopefully coming soon.
The C.O.G. 100 is pretty much closed up for the year, but one thing remains. I have a couple of extra C.O.G. 100 jerseys laying around and I have to wonder if someone out there didn't get theirs.
By my records, I show nothing missing but the extra jerseys seem like an odd thing. It is quite possible we didn't get one to someone at the pre-event meeting at the Peace Tree Taproom in Grinnell. So, let me know if you haven't gotten what you ordered and I will ship it out ASAP. Hit me with the size you ordered and I will sort it out.
If it turns out that I was shipped extras by mistake, I will make them available and I will mention that here on the blog and on the C.O.G. 100 site. But let's see if someone is missing their pre-ordered jersey first. Then we'll proceed from there. I'd like to divest myself of this inventory and not have it around here. It is better that someone be wearing the jerseys as opposed to having them laying about the Guitar Ted Productions headquarters where they would likely get squirreled away and then forgotten until who knows when.
Have a great weekend! Good Luck To The Iowa Wind And Rock Riders, Volunteers, and Crew!!
Are there any steel handlebars out there that can compete with the aluminum and carbon boys?
ReplyDeleteHave a great weekend, Brother!!
ReplyDeleteGT, I have two of the Spank Vibrocore mtb bars on my bikes and they are amazing. Even on my FS mtb, the Vibrocore smoothes out the ride over all terrain. ON the hardtail, it's amazing how much it absorbs on my rides. I have less of the shaking of the hands after a long downhill on both bikes! I'm happy to see these come out! Hopefully, these do the same for the gravel/all-road bikes. I look forward to reading your findings.
ReplyDelete@teamdarb- Do you mean steel drop bars? None that I am aware of. Surly makes a few nice steel handlebars of various shapes and sizes though.
ReplyDelete@MG- Thanks Brother!! Backatcha
@S. Sprague- Thanks for that feedback. I am excited to find out if the drop bars are going to live up to their billing.
Spank Flare 25: Looks very Cowchipper-ish to me.
ReplyDeleteCowchipper: 116mm drop, 68mm reach. I'm measuring ~580mm outside-to-outside at the tips of the drops on a 44cm model. 24 degree flair on the hooks, 12 degree sweep on the drops.
Flare 25: 110mm drop, 65mm reach. Claimed 582mm outside-to-outside at the tips of the drops on the 44cm model. 25 degree flair on the hooks, not a ton of sweep on the drops.
Perhaps there are some subtle differences in the shape of drops (rounder/more traditional than cowchipper?), but the gross dimensions and shape appear very similar.
Aside from the 31.8mm section across the whole top, it doesn't look very Luxy-ish. It's missing the wheelbarrow-like massive sweep to the drops.